Management Rights - AELE's Home Page

Reorganization 9-4
bargaining unit work. 26 In these shared work cases, an employer is not
obligated to bargain over every incidental variation in job assignments
between unit and non-unit employees. 27 Rather, the employer is only
required to bargain if there is a calculated displacement of unit work. 28
Therefore, if unit members have performed an ascertainable percentage of
the work, a significant reduction in the portion of the work performed by
non-unit (sic) employees may demonstrate a calculated displacement of
unit work. 29 In a 2002 case involving the Boston Police Department, the
LRC dismissed a union charge that the hiring of a civilian instructor at the
police academy amounted to a transfer of union work to non-union
personnel, as work had been shared. 30 In a Saugus case, the use of both
truant officers and police officers to perform similar work precluded the
issuance of a prohibited practice charge. 31 In analyzing what constitutes
bargaining unit work, the focus should be on the nature of the functions
performed. 32 For example, the duties of assistants to the supervisors of
cases were the same at all Boston district courts. 33
In shared work situations, the Commission’s analysis focuses on the preexisting
pattern of shared work and the impact that any changes in that
pattern may have on the allegedly aggrieved party. 34 An employer may not
unilaterally change a pre-existing pattern of shared work. 35
In a 2003 case, the record revealed that from 1987 to 1999 patrol officers
held the majority of the positions of assistant to the supervisor of cases,
while detectives held a smaler number of those positions. Since the City’s
appointing a non-union individual did not change the pre-existing
patterns and so no calculated displacement took place, the City did not
violate the law. 36
The union must introduce specific evidence concerning the percentage of
such work performed by members of the bargaining unit. It failed to do so
in a police case involving dispatching and ticketing in a shared work
situation involving police officers, superior officers and even the chief, and
thus the union's charge was dismissed. 37
The Commission likewise ruled that the Town of Watertown was not guilty
of unilaterally assigning police officer work to civilian dispatchers since the
department had used Comprehensive Employment and Training Act
(CETA) employees as dispatchers previously. However, the Town was still
required to bargain the impact (or even the possibility of reversing the
decision) upon the request of the union in the future. 38
The Commission next analyzes whether the calculated displacement of
union work had an adverse impact on either the bargaining unit members
or the bargaining unit itself. 39 A loss of bargaining unit positions deprives
bargaining unit members of work opportunities. 40 The transfer of
Commonwealth of Massachusetts